"I’ve seen the movie over and over and it still chokes me up."
Me too. I had to look away while watching the clips to keep the tears in my eyes. I was not successful.
Even the minor characters are so well rounded that they have a significant\ impact. For me, one of the scenes evoking the most emotion occurs when Fred Derry’s father, an elderly alcoholic living in a wooden shack with his doting companion, Hortense, reads his son’s medal citations as his son is packing to leave. He chokes up with pride, and the comfort Hortense offers is pure sweetness. It’s a short but powerful exchange: the pride of fatherhood mixed with the inevitable disappointments of life.